Race
Report:
After all the earlier excitement it came as something of a
relief when Round 14 was far calmer. Even so, there was more
than enough action to go round, especially in the National
Class. As in Round 13 there were things happening even before
the start, as the Hitech Racing boys could be seen dragging
Marko Asmer's car back down the pitlane and pushing it into
retirement with a gearbox failure. He was not amused, having
got no further than the first corner in the earlier race.
Also as in Round 13 the mayhem began seconds after the race
started, when Ryan Lewis (T-Sport) ran into the rear of Charlie
Kimball's Carlin Motorsport car, losing places himself, and
starting a chain reaction that they both survived, but that
saw Mike Conway (Fortec Motorsport) and Tim Bridgman (Hitech
Racing) tangle, though they too would live to fight another
lap. By some miracle, despite Stephen Jelley (Menu Motorsport)
and Ronayne O'Mahony (Fortec Motorsport) having gravely moments
as well, the only real casualty was Daniel Clarke (Double
R Racing) who was stuck in a gravel trap when the dust cleared,
knocking Carlin Motorsport's Christian Bakkerud's front wing
out of alignment - he was able to keep going but the handling
wasn't exactly normal any longer...
And where was Alvaro Parente (Carlin Motorsport) in all this?
At the front. He'd got the drop on his team-mate Kimball again
and was in the lead, having seen an opportunity that was too
good to pass up. Meanwhile, Danilo Dirani (P1 Motorsport)
was 4th, but was also locked into the start of a battle with
Conway that would keep him occupied all the way to the flag,
while also having to try and hold off James Walker (Fortec
Motorsport), who had despatched Lewis easily. Lewis, in fact,
seemed to be in trouble, and lost quite a bit of ground, though
he was able to arrest his slide down the order, falling into
the clutches of a very determined James Walker (Fortec Motorsport)
as a result. In addition, Keiko Ihara (Carlin Motorsport)
had sustained damage and was in the pits having a new nose
fitted to her Dallara. So the first lap was quieter than Round
13, but still decidedly lively, it's fair to say.
At the front Parente and Kimball were already beginning to
break away again, though this time Bridgman seemed to have
the pace to go with them even if he was not able to get on
terms with them. Ben Clucas (Fluid Motorsport) was leading
the National Class, and was also able to put space between
himself and the rest of the mob, the battle for second in
class becoming very fierce as the race wore on. It probably
didn't help that, after his little off, Jelley was caught
up with them, stuck in the middle of a battle that had nothing
to do with him. Charlie Hollings (Promatecme F3) decided to
have a go at getting past Barton Mawer (T-Sport), got it slightly
wrong and crashed out, thus letting Jelley get through; for
good measure he got past Mawer as well. It also left Mawer
with an example of the apparently fashionable skewed front
wings for his trouble, and might have contributed to the Australian's
eventual fate. The battle not to be last was also fierce again,
with Cheong Lou Meng (Edenbridge Racing), Nick Jones (Team
SWR) and Ricardo Teixeira (Carlin Motorsport) locked together
until Cheong spun off on lap 3 leaving the other two to get
on with their race.
Meanwhile, in the Championship Class Lewis and Walker were
having a robust scrap for 6th place, Lewis eventually being
unable to hold Walker off any longer. After that Lewis found
he had Bruno Senna (Double R Racing) to contend with, the
Brazilian in very determined mood and having one of his best
runs of the season so far. Certainly he was very keen to get
past Lewis, trying round the outside and up the inside, everything
but underneath it seemed. They both gained a place when Walker
went by, the engine sounding very far from normal. It was
no surprise to see him coast into the pits a lap later, and
watch the team swarm over the car, removing the engine cover
immediately he stopped.
Meanwhile, Steven Kane (Promatecme F3) was having to pick
his way through the battling pack of National Class runners,
while they continued with their own private battle. He got
through, leaving Josh Fisher (Team SWR), Salvador Duran (P1
Motorsport), Jonathan Kennard (Alan Docking Racing) and Adam
Khan (Performance Racing) to swap places with a frequency
that baffled the eye on occasions. Once they got rid of O'Mahony
too they were really free to battle it out. Teixeira, on the
other hand, decided not to play any longer, pirouetting gracefully
off into the gravel where he dug in up to the rear axle trying
to get enough grip to drive back out.
At the front Bridgman could no longer live with the pace of
the two Carlin drivers, Parente continuing on his way undisturbed
by anything or any one. Kimball couldn't get close enough
to get a tow, and had to settle for what looked like a guaranteed
second place. That left Bridgman losing ground and falling
back into the clutches of Dirani and Conway. While they were
closing in on 3rd place, the National Class battle for 3rd
turned into a battle for 2nd, when Mawer lost it at the Parabolica
and smacked into the wall very hard indeed. That promoted
Duran to 2nd, which was a very good place to be. If he could
just hang onto it, it would improve his chances of catching
up with Mawer in the National Class standings. However, he
had three men behind him who didn't want to give him an easy
ride.
Someone else not having an easy ride was Bakkerud. The Dane
now had the recovering O'Mahony all over him, and he'd brought
Karl Reindler (Alan Docking Racing) along for the ride. Despite
not having much of a front wing left any more, Bakkerud held
them off as long as he could. Unfortunately he couldn't quite
manage it and on the final lap of the race they both went
through, dumping the Dane out of the points for the first
time this season. As the only driver to have scored points
in every single race so far, Christian was disappointed at
having his run spoiled, but really there was nothing he could
have done, and in fact he'd done a sterling job holding his
position as long as he had. Meanwhile, Bridgman's 3rd place
assault was coming off the rails, big time. Both Dirani and
Conway really wanted that place, and on the last but one lap
Dirani got enough of a tow to be able to attempt to get ahead.
As he slithered alongside, Bridgman took to the grass to try
and hang onto his position. Dirani wasn't about to give up,
and the two of them were side-by-side through the next section,
again getting all their wheels on the grass. The stewards
took a dim view of Bridgman's actions, as opposed to Dirani's,
as he had no choice in the matter. The result was instant
disqualification for Bridgman, who had thus far scored no
points at all at Monza (and only two in total this season).
Dirani was pleased to inherit 3rd place, and even more pleased
to find that the Lola is finally on the pace once more, after
a frankly dismal season, brightened only by his successes
at the first meeting of the year.
3rd place in the National Class was also the subject of some
dispute still; on the last lap, Khan passed Fisher by going
right across the white line and using the Tarmac between the
pit wall and the circuit. He was so far over the timing beam
didn't register his transponder. Afterwards, and incensed
Fisher was sure the place was his, and he was sent to the
podium. He wasn't the only one incensed about it. Khan was
furious too, because he knew it was his. Eventually, the stewards
decided that he was actually 3rd, and Fisher returned the
cup, cap and champagne bottle to Khan. The pair shook hands
and agreed to forget about it.
And so, Parente claimed his second victory of the day, ahead
of Kimball, who wasn't too unhappy at another second place.
Parente's version of the race was simple: "This time,
I did another good start and was in front after the first
chicane. My car felt a bit better with the circuit being cooler
and I was quicker and could pull out a gap. Charlie lost the
tow I was giving him, so I could pull away and control the
race. I'm on pole for tomorrow - it would be nice to get three
wins."
For Kimball, the plan had been simple too: "We had the
same game plan as for the first race, as it nearly worked
then, but on about the 5th or 6th lap I made a big mistake
on downshifting at the first chicane, and Alvaro was able
to get a gap of about a second and a half, and that was it.
I could get back a tenth or two, but most of the time we were
doing the same speed. We were driving away from the people
behind us, but could not close up. I'm disappointed not to
have had a chance to fight for the win, but I'll take the
15 points for second which will help a lot in the Championship
standings."
Dirani hung onto 3rd from Conway, with Lewis 5th despite Senna's
attentions. 7th was Jelley, from Kane, while National Class
winner Clucas was 9th overall. 9th in class was O'Mahony,
ahead of Karl Reindler (Alan Docking Racing). Just out of
the points was Bakkerud, while the Invitation Class winner
was Alejandro Nunez (HBR Motorsport). Duran was 2nd in the
National Class, from Khan, Fisher and Kennard, while 18th
went to Christopher Wassermann (HBR Motorsport). 19th was
Juho Annala (Alan Docking Racing), a long way in front of
Jones. The last runner was Ihara.
The extra points for fastest laps went to Parente and Clucas.